Last 18th May Mr. Piero Scarpellini, Director of Pragmata Institute, has been interviewed by the deputy director of Radio Rai 1, Mr. Paolo Corsini. The interview started initially focusing on African migrants that illegally arrive on the Italian coasts and then it continued analyzing the political, financial and social situation in Africa. Mr. Scarpellini intervened pointing out an interesting concept of Africa: even if he is an expert of Africa matters and he established strong institutional relations in Africa during the last 20 years, he stated that “it is impossible to speak about Africa as an homogeneous matter, because the difference within it are so many that it is more correct to speak about many situations within the continent”.

On 29th April 2014 has been held in Rome the Assembly of Cespi that formalized the renewal of its executive bodies. On this occasion Pragmata Institute has been strongly involved in the Presidency Committee and in the Board of Directors, with 16 members of the Group Pragmata Institute that have been elected within such bodies. Cespi is a renowned Centre for Studies and Research, an independent and non-profit profit organization , created in the 70s firstly by the initiative of Enrico Berlinguer and then by the initiative of Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. In 1985 Cespi formally established in Association and in its Presidential Committee and Board of Directors sit eminent people as Enrico Letta (former Italian Prime Minister),

Pragmata Institute supported the organization, on last 4th and 5th April 2014, of the Donors Conference for the Revitalization of the Lake Chad, held in Bologna and in Rimini (Italy). The conference has been organized by the Lake Chad Basin Commission, the Foundation for World Wide Cooperation and Pragmata Institute, involved in the organization of the political aspects of the Conference. President Romano Prodi opened the works of the Donors Conference for the Revitalization of the Lake Chad. The works continued on Saturday, April 5th, in Rimini, at the Grand Hotel. The President of Mauritania and current President of the African Union, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, the President of the African Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the President of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou, the President of Chad, Idriss Déby Itno, and former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, attended the conference. Among the participants, were present Lapo Pistelli, Deputy Minister of Italian Foreign Affairs, Vasco Errani, President of the Emilia Romagna Region, Vincenzo Stingone, Quaestor of Bologna and

Much of Africa’s celebrated growth is vulnerable according to a groundbreaking new report from the African Centre for Economic Transformation (ACET) presented in Brussels on March 18.When growth from mining and oil is discounted, some of the continent’s apparent economic powerhouses are revealed to be languishing, and failing to create jobs or opportunities for a growing youth population. This could lead to future political or social unrest. Nigeria and Ghana, for example, rank respectively 3rd and 6th from the bottom in the report’s African Transformation Index, which assesses 21 sub-Saharan countries on the rate of their economic transformation. The top-ranking countries are Mauritius, South Africa, and Cote d’Ivoire in that order. K.Y. Amoako, President of ACET, said: “Africa has made great progress in recent years, but our report shows that current growth patterns are not sustainable and will not drive development or equality. Africa needs growth with DEPTH – namely Diversification of production, Export competitiveness, increased Productivity, and Technological upgrade – all leading to Human well-being. Only then will the continent truly transform.” The report compares Africa’s performance with that of eight earlier transformers: Brazil, Chile, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam. It draws out lessons from these countries, which used to be poor and underdeveloped, but several of which are now rated as upper middle- or even high-income.

Pragmata Institute has been invited to intervene as key speaker at the “Transaction Leaders Forum - Investing into Africa: securing opportunities and navigating the challenges” held last 11th March in Singapore and in Jakarta on 13th March. The forum has been organized by Ernst & Young Singapore in order to explore the interesting possibilities offered by the African continent. In fact, according to the International Monetary Fund, growth in Sub-Saharan Africa was 5% in 2013 and expected to grow by 6% in 2014. In addition, between 2011 and 2015, seven of the world’s 10 fastest growing economies will be African. Pragmata Institute intervention gave to the participants (more than 60 representatives of multinational companies based in Singapore and in Indonesia) an overview of the opportunities for investors in infrastructure, transportation, energy and education sectors.

From 21st to 31st January 2014 has been held in Addis Ababa the 22nd Ordinary Session of the African Union Summit. Pragmata Institute, thanks to its role of International Advisor of the African Union Commission for the development of its relations with the European Institutions and Member States, took part to the Summit. Key decisions adopted by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government are:

Republic of Cote d’Ivoire will host the African Statistical Training Centre in Yamoussoukro at the Institut Polytechnique Felix Houphouet Boingy and the African Union will allocate adequate resources for its creation;

the Assembly welcomed the establishment by the AU Commission, of a panel of independent experts to assess the status of the operationalization of the African Standby Force and its Rapid Deployment Capability (RDC), as well as the development of proposals for the operationalization of the African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crises (ACIRC);

From 15th to 17th January 2014 the yearly Atlantic Basin Initiative meeting took place in Veracruz, Mexico.

The Atlantic Basin Initiative aims to gather Eminent Persons from the public and private sectors in Africa, Europe, North and South America, in order to chart new paths for pan-Atlantic cooperation, erasing the historic line dividing the North and South Atlantic and redefining a new Atlantic Hemisphere.

This initiative has been organized by the Center for Trans-Atlantic Relations (CTR) at John’s Hopkins University, United States and it is spearheaded by CTR Distinguished fellow and former President of the government of Spain Jose Maria Aznar and CTR executive Director Dan Hamilton. It is supported by a variety of corporations, foundations, multilateral institutions, governments and private donors.

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), established in 1977, is the premier and the most comprehensive academic research organization and national center in the People's Republic of China for study in the fields of philosophy and social sciences, with the obligation of advancing and innovating in the scientific researches of philosophy, social sciences and policies. It was described by Foreign Policy magazine as the top think tank in Asia. It is affiliated with the People’s Republic of China's State Council.